Legacy litigation: relative difficulty of managing

Legacy litigation – lawsuits arising from discontinued operations or sold assets where the seller remains liable for associated lawsuits – can bedevil law departments. One view is that legacy litigation is easier to manage because the goal is simply to achieve the most efficient result. All you are trying to do is run-off the backlog as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Sometimes this becomes more difficult (or perhaps easier ) because there are fewer witnesses and documents and no client to contend with. A shrinking capital reserve stands as the primary milestone. Also, iIt can be demoralizing to work on orphan litigation.

On the contrary, litigation from ongoing operations can be easier to resolve than legacy litigation because the former involve relationships with vendors or co-venturers who want to continue the business relationship